


Nerves of Fire

by Crazy4abby



Series: Dream SMP/SBI/Other Stuff Related [9]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dream meet the Consequences, No Beta We Die Like Wilbur in Skyblockle, Other, Resurrection, SPOILERS FOR STREAMS UP TO 3/14/21, Time Travel Reference, i am actually so bad at tagging, we dont get enough Sapnap and Tommy interactions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-24 02:34:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30065343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crazy4abby/pseuds/Crazy4abby
Summary: Resurrection has consequences on both the Resurrected and the Resurrector. Too bad no one read the manual.
Relationships: Karl Jacobs/Sapnap/Quackity (mentioned), Technoblade & Philza Minecraft, TommyInnit & Sapnap, TommyInnit & Tubbo (mentioned), Tommyinnit & CaptainPuffy, romantic shippers dni
Series: Dream SMP/SBI/Other Stuff Related [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2083617
Comments: 1
Kudos: 112





	Nerves of Fire

In an old book, laying in an old stronghold of the previous species that roamed this land, reads the consequences of resurrection. Its brother book was taken from its side, falling into the hands of a power-hungry tyrant, and then traded to another tyrant.

“ _ The nerves of the resurrected being are never quite the same- the built-up tolerance to pain you grow during your childhood disappears to the void, and becomes reborn in the resurrection, as the resurrection restores and refreshes everything, not just reattaching the soul and fixing the body’s fatal wounds. _ ” 

Had the second book been taken with the first book, perhaps resurrection would be taken more heavily. The book continues, explaining more consequences, for the resurrected, and the resurrector. 

“ _ The Resurrection also modifies the memory of the Resurrected. Life and Death’s greatest barrier is the Afterlife, that of which the human mind cannot remember without extreme mental pressure, and an eventual breakdown. Should the Resurrected remember the afterlife, it would be warped and not what they truly experienced there. What they remember from the Afterlife depends on the trauma of the Resurrected’s Death. _ ”

and

“ _ After each use, the Resurrection book along with this book, its brother book, teleport. Somewhere far away, it is assumed they go. The purpose of this failsafe is so that multiple resurrections cannot occur in a row. Life and Death could not accept that. _ ”

If Dream were to check his ender chest, if he even had access to it, he would notice the book missing. But he is imprisoned with the boy he murdered with his bare hands and a couple of potatoes. 

His grin widens under his smiley-faced mask. It wasn’t too bad in here with Tommy here too. 

\--*--

His grin doesn’t last long. Sam found out that he brought Tommy back to be his best friend and immediately removed Tommy from the cell. Tommy doesn’t look at him at all, but he asks Sam if he can take one last look. Sam refuses and Dream pouts under his mask, though no one can see him now. 

“ _ If one were to resurrect more than one person, the Resurrector would enact a series of unlucky events, getting unluckier with time until the Resurrector’s imminent demise. Life and Death do not take kindly to chain resurrections and have no qualms about killing the living. _ ”

Dream thinks about what Tommy had  _ begged _ him for. Tommy doesn’t want Wilbur back, does he? He had even told Dream that he would be his friend in exchange for not bringing Wilbur back. 

Dream plays with the thought, with the  _ idea _ that Tommy would be his friend, but he doesn’t feel like it would be the most fun path. He watches the sparks fly around the cell like they were the most amusing thing that had happened that week.

“Welcome back, Wilbur.” The red glint in Wilbur’s eyes makes Dream feel giddy. 

“Hello, Dream. I bet you missed me real nice.” 

\--*--

Tommy hasn’t left his house since he kicked Connor out of it. He can still hear Connor bustling around in Ninja’s house across from his. He stays curled up next to his bed, but not in it. Instead, he revels in the cool stone that cools his warm skin. It’s miles different from the warm obsidian and the occasional sparks that flew in from the open lava. Eventually, he pulls his blanket off of his bed and curls it around himself. 

He lasts almost a full hour before he pulls it off because it is itchy and it’s hot and he can’t bear it. He sighs when his skin hits the smooth stone again. 

Ever since he’s been back, his skin’s been all weird, and touching  _ anything _ makes him feel from tingly to outright  _ pain-inducing _ . He doesn’t quite understand it and it kind of scares him. 

.. He doesn’t even know  _ who _ he would go to. He can’t trust- he can’t trust Sam anymore. And Tubbo has gone off and gotten a new best friend and got  _ married _ and he missed it. His gut sinks and he feels like the worst person in the world. He missed his best friend’s (platonic) marriage and said best friend replaced him for it. 

A broken sob breaks out of his throat. He’s so  _ alone _ .

Until he isn’t. 

The front door of his dirt home slams open and a few specks of dirt fly down from the ceiling. For a moment, the person barging into his home hesitates at the front door. 

“.. Tommy?” It comes out hesitant, unsure if he was there, or even alive. 

\--*--

The news that Tommy had been resurrected had gotten to him before the news that Tommy had been dead did. Quackity had told Karl and Sapnap that he saw Tommy by the community house-  _ alive _ and had opened a bottle of alcohol that they had all been saving for a celebratory occasion. 

Quackity left after that, going to that secret project he’s been working on. 

That conversation- it left Sapnap confused.  _ How did Tommy die? _ Sapnap leaves Kinoko Kingdom in a hurry and leaves Karl sitting on their couch in deep thought. He marches down the Prime Path with a purpose, and he pauses outside of Church Prime. 

A sour taste fills his mouth. He remembers taking down the obnoxiously large photo of Tommy but now- He reads the signs nailed to the cobblestone structure and he realized what it was. He swallows to get rid of the sour taste and he continues. Eventually, he stops in front of another building before he gets to Tommy’s hut. 

When he enters, Puffy isn’t in the main room but he can hear her bustling in the back room. Sapnap reads the signs nailed to the desk and takes a book out of the chest, writing something down and inserting it into the hopper. The book clunks through the hopper into the chest below it with a thunk, and Puffy pokes her head out of her office. 

“Sapnap.” She says kindly. 

“Puffy- what-  _ what happened to Tommy? _ ” He asks desperately. He thinks he might know the answer but he hopes to Prime that she says something else. 

“Sapnap- Tommy, he- Dream beat him to death. Tommy- Tommy got trapped in there because there was a security breach and Sam couldn’t let him out or get to him in time and- and Dream beat him to death.” Puffy finishes quietly. 

“ _ Damnit _ ” Sapnap growls to himself. Puffy tilts her head. 

“What?” She asks curiously.

“I was- I was Dream’s best friend- I should have- I should have seen that he was becoming this- I should have been able to-” Callused hands, hard from labor, gently remove his hands from his hair where it had become tangled.

“ You couldn’t have known. He hid it well from all of us, Sapnap.” His shoulders are tense and he tears himself away from her comforting hug. 

“I’ve gotta- I’ve gotta go.” Sapnap rushes out, and he leaves the therapy office. Captain Puffy remains in the front lobby of the office and goes through the submitted sign-ups for therapy. She notes one from Sapnap, and one from-  _ Tommy _ . 

She collapses in a heap next to the bin clutching the book. There is no way- Tommy is dead,  _ and yet _ , this book could not have been forged. The ink is fresh and the handwriting is undoubtedly Tommy. 

She takes a moment to stabilize her breathing and digs through her own office to find a spare writing book to write back to him. On the off chance that this form is real, of course. 

\--*--

Sapnap hesitates in front of Tommy’s house. Behind him, Connor is doing his own thing in Ninja’s old house. He hasn’t seen Ninja in a while so he assumes that he doesn’t care much about the old dusty house. 

(Sapnap ignores the Tommy statue- built with angel wings and everything on top. He refuses to- He refuses to accept it.)

He shoves the front door open- Tommy isn’t in the front room and he hesitates to step in. He doesn’t notice the dirt specks falling from the ceiling but he does notice the small whimper coming from the back smooth-stone room where Tommy’s bed is. 

“..Tommy?” Suddenly doubts fill his head. What if- What if Quackity just hallucinated seeing him. Puffy hadn’t even mentioned him being resurrected by Dream and he was sure that Puffy was closer to Tommy. 

Sapnap gathers up all that courage and confidence he gained from participating in Dream’s Manhunts from back before all this ever even existed and carefully steps through Tommy’s home, to the back room. 

He stops in the doorway, looking down at Tommy’s shivering form. He looks…  _ pathetic _ . But not just pathetic, either. He looks like death. His skin isn’t healthy and it is pale, and his lips are blue and his hair is stringy and he looks like death warmed over. 

Which, Sapnap supposes, must be true to a certain degree. 

Tommy watches him carefully from his spot curled up on the floor. Sapnap collapses onto the floor in the doorway, and he mourns the man Dream used to be. 

\--*--

They sit there together, in the quiet. Tommy uncurls himself the longer they sit there. The atmosphere isn’t awkward, at least Tommy doesn’t think it is. It doesn’t feel that way. 

Tommy crawls his way next to Sapnap and settles down next to him. He doesn’t touch him physically, isn’t sure he’s ready for physical contact. Everything that is touching him burns already. 

Tommy can feel the heat coming off of the man who plays with fire so often, though, and he finds it doesn’t burn too much. It’s a comforting warmth, not the uncomfortable one that the sweaty blanket from his bed gave him. 

“ _ Life, of course, finds no fault in the Resurrected. They had no choice in coming back to the land of the living and shows mercy to the tortured soul. Life guides to the Resurrected the people they need the most and hopes that in time, the burning touches become comforting warmth. It just takes time _ .” 

\--*--

The room is freezing without both his fiances there with him, Karl finds. It makes him feel so alone. Kinoko Kingdom is a lonely one. George is hibernating again and Quackity, although not officially affiliated but stays there for his SOs, and Sapnap left for who knows where after what Quackity told them. 

He sits there quietly, thinking. About Tommy, about Sapnap, about Dream, about the weird missing memories and what happened to them. He wonders idly if there had been anything he could have done to prevent Tommy’s death. He stands up, absent from himself.

It’s almost like sleepwalking. He slides down the ladder haphazardly, and then it fades in a flash of teal and lavender light. 

\--*--

“Hey Techno, did you move the book I put here, mate?” Phil asks his close friend. Techno looks at him, weary from the manual labor of building their underground base for the Syndicate. 

“Uhhh no, I didn’t. Why?” “It’s missing. Maybe I’ll ask Ranboo and Niki if they touched it,” Phil decides. 

\--*--

The Resurrection book disappeared from the Dream SMP area without a second glance, the paired book with it. Whether it pops back up, well that remains to be seen. 


End file.
